


Corners of Your Mind

by Thalius



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Gen, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-08-19 06:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 6,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8193538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thalius/pseuds/Thalius
Summary: Short drabbles from various tumblr prompts, memes and requests.





	1. Sweet Affectionate Moments: Cooking Together - Nate/Elena

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elissanerdwriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elissanerdwriter/gifts), [Forgefaerie (LinaLeah)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaLeah/gifts), [beltsquid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beltsquid/gifts).



> I've got a lot of extra writing kicking around on tumblr that's not on AO3 yet (it's all [here](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/tagged/my+writing) if you wanna read ahead and see!). I'll post the really short ones that don't really qualify as full chapters for my other story here. 
> 
> This first chapter is from [this fic writing meme](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/post/148497962667/lustanddai-sweet-affectionate-moments-meme), requested by beltsquid.

When she woke up, Nate wasn't beside her.

She frowned over at his pillow, then glanced at the bathroom. Still no husband. 

This wouldn't do. It was one of the few days she didn't have work and Nate wasn't off on a salvage trip with Jameson, and it was even her  _ birthday, _ dammit. She wanted a lazy day in bed.

Of course, she couldn't  _ do _ that without Nate, so she sat up and got dressed instead, frowning at her own reflection as she brushed her teeth.

Fifteen minutes later she was heading down the stairs, annoyed she still hadn't seen Nate, when she smelled burning food.

“Nate?”

“Everything's—it's fine!” he called back immediately. “Go back to bed!”

She rolled her eyes and made her way towards the kitchen. The smell was getting stronger, and she could see Nate moving furiously around the room. 

“Nate—”

He turned to look at her, eyes big. “‘lena, hey, you should go back to bed—”

“Only if you come back up with me,” she replied. “What are you doing, exactly?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly and turned back around to look that the stove. “Oh shit, now that's burnt too—”

“Do you need—”

“No go back to bed!”

She bit her lip and walked over to him, touching his shoulder and looking around him to see what he was doing.

It wasn't pretty.

“Oh, those poor eggs,” she murmured, and he grabbed her by both arms. 

“I have everything under control,” he said, then bent down to kiss her. The force of it made her a bit dizzy, and she pouted when he pulled away.  _ “Go back to bed.” _

“Are you trying to make me birthday breakfast?” she asked instead, trailing a finger up his arm. He was only wearing a t-shirt and pajamas pants, and his hair was still all mussed from sleep. He must've gotten up early to do this, and while she loved the effort he was putting into this endeavour, her interest in food was waning with each passing moment.

He opened his mouth to answer her when the smoke detector started screeching. Nate swore under his breath and grabbed the tea towel, running to the detector in the hallway and waving the towel under it to clear the smoke.

Elena shut off the burners on the stove and turned the overhead fan on, wincing at the state of the food. Eggs, bacon, and toast were all scattered across the counter and stove, ranging from states of raw to horribly burnt.

When the beeping stopped, Nate sighed and tossed the towel onto the island, then came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. “I _was_ trying to make birthday breakfast,” he murmured in her ear. “But it didn't really work out.”

“We can still salvage some of this,” she assured him. “The bacon just needs—”

“I didn't want you to have to cook, though,” he said, sounding defeated. “You always make the warm food.”

“And  _ I  _ wanted to spend this morning in bed naked with you,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him. He gave her a grin and pulled her closer. “But I suppose making breakfast with you is a close second.”

“Well since I destroyed the eggs,” he murmured into her hair. “What can I do to make it better?”

“Have less clothes on,” she whispered, and he laughed. “While we try to salvage this food.”

“Grease splatter might be an issue.”

“I'll kiss it better,” she assured him. “Now take your shirt off while I started the bacon.”


	2. Sweet Affectionate Moments: A Tired Kiss - Nate/Elena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From [this](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/post/148497962667/lustanddai-sweet-affectionate-moments-meme) fic writing meme, for an anon.

It was dark outside when she finally heard the front door open, and Elena set down her tablet that she'd been pretending to write on, standing up to go greet him. Nate had told her he'd be working late—again—but… she’d still been worried.

Nate stumbled in through the door, kicking off his shoes as he walked down the hall and letting his bag fall carelessly to the floor. She walked towards him and was about to say hello when he grabbed her hard and wrapped her in a big hug.

“Hey,” she murmured into his shirt. He smelled sweaty and fishy and like a dock worker, replacing his more familiar scent of pencil lead and old paper. “You're home pretty late again.”

“I know,” he sighed. “I know. And I've got less than twelve hours before I have to get up and do it over again.”

“Well come sit down.” She tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let her go, and she smiled against his shoulder. 

“Can we just… go upstairs? I have to shower, and I'm pretty tired.”

“You don't want food?”

He pulled away just enough to look down at her. “Yeah, but I'm more exhausted than I am hungry.”

She frowned. “That bad?”

He made a face. “Yeah. An everything-went-wrong kid of day.”

She patted his chest with a hand. “Go shower. I'll make you something. We can eat and talk in bed.”

He gave her a tired grin. “Best thing I've heard all day.”

“Come here,” she said, grabbing at his neck to pull him down for a kiss. He happily obliged, and she melted into him. 

“I miss you,” she sighed against his mouth. He'd been working long hours a lot lately.

“I miss you, too.” He pressed his nose to her cheek. “And I'd say let’s go have sex, but I might actually fall asleep on you.”

She laughed, hiding her disappointment. Working late hours had a number of unwelcome consequences, and it  _ had _ been a while since they'd made love.... “You should call in sick tomorrow,” she suggested. “I'll make it worth your while.”

He tucked her head under his chin and laughed. “Lie to my boss? I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one.”

“It's called taking mental health breaks, which are totally valid,” she argued. “We can watch old movies in bed. I'll even make hot cocoa.”

He groaned. “You're making it hard to say no.”

“You've got lots of overtime; I'm sure Jameson won't mind.” She pulled back. “Go have a shower and think about it. I don't want you to burn out.”

He nodded and rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah. Okay.” He reluctantly disengaged from their hug and moved back towards the stairs. She turned to go make Nate some food, and just before he cleared the second floor, his head popped out over the bannister. “Love you.”

She looked back and grinned. “Love you too, fishy-smelling husband.”

He frowned. “Is it really bad?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

He sighed. “We need to go on a vacation.”

_ “You  _ need a break. Do you want a sandwich or soup?”

“Soup please,” he called, disappearing from the banister. She heard his clothes drop on the ground as he walked towards their bedroom, and she tried not to think too much about him naked in the shower while she made him some dinner.


	3. The Way You Said I Love You: As a Thank-You - Nate/Elena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From [this](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/post/150185436752/the-way-you-said-i-love-you) fic writing meme, requested by an anon.

“We need to m-move back into an  _ apartment!” _

Elena looked up from her writing in time to see Nate shove his snow-encrusted boots off and stomp his feet into front hall carpet. His jacket was similarly iced-up, and heavy flakes of snow stuck to the tips of his hair. Winter had come suddenly, almost overnight, and Nate was never one for cold weather.

“I asked if you wanted help—”

“You were writing,” he called back, hanging his jacket over the banister, then shuffled into the living room, shivering dramatically. “Plus, I'm fulfilling my d-domestic husband duties as snow-shoveler.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then I guess you should also start paying our bills and managing our money, too.”

He stood in front of her, brushing ice off the cuffs of his sweater, and grinned at her. “Nah, you're doing a great job.” He rubbed at his arms, and another violent shiver ran down his spine. “Is there any hot chocolate mix left?”

She nodded her head towards the kitchen. “There's a mug waiting for you on the counter.  _ With  _ tiny rainbow marshmallows.”

“Oh god, I love you.” He ducked towards the couch to give her a quick kiss that tasted like snow before heading off to the kitchen. She heard him make small contented noises as he wrapped his hands around the warm mug, and he was practically purring by the time he sat down beside her.

“Do you want a blanket?” she asked, pulling the afghan out from under herself when he nodded. She settled it around his shoulders as he shoved his nose into the mug to take big gulps of hot cocoa, and he curled up on his side of the couch, a low, happy hum coming from him now that he was out of the cold.

Husband properly set to dethaw, she continued working. Elena managed to get two paragraphs down when Nate’s wet, socked feet were shoved under her legs without warning.

_ “Ew!”  _ She shut her laptop again before it could go flying and glared at him, cringing away from the soggy mass beneath her thigh. “Your  _ feet  _ are—”

“You do it  _ all _ the time,” he argued, and she could hardly see his face now—he'd pulled the blanket over his head, and his mug of hot chocolate was held close to his chest.

“Not with  _ wet socks—” _ She jumped up and and wiped at her tights. “And your feet  _ smell _ now _ —” _

He stuck a foot in the air towards her. “My feet are cold,” the blanket lump protested. “I just want to warm them up.”

She wrinkled her nose and tucked her laptop into her side. “Go get new socks— _ that _ will warm your feet up.”

His foot retracted from the air and went to rest back on the cushions, and Elena sighed. He was going to leave a damp mark on the sofa if he didn't move his feet.... “Can you grab a pair for me? I mean, you're already up anyway….”

“Yes, because your socks are a biohazard.  _ And  _ I made you  _ cocoa.” _

“Yeah, sitting in the nice warm house while I slaved away outside—"

“Oh my  _ god—” _

“Please please  _ please _ , ‘lena,” he insisted, and his head poked out from the afghan. “I'm really cold.” 

Oh god, he was going into full Puppy Eyes mode. His hair was spiked up every which way, the striped blanket like a red and brown halo behind his head, and a thin film of chocolate coated his upper lip, only adding to the overall effect—which was probably his intention.

She sighed again and set her laptop down on the coffee table, and he grinned in triumph. “As your majesty commands. But get your feet off the couch before the water soaks in.”

He retreated back into the blanket now, his mission accomplished—but he also set his feet on the ground. “I love you,” he said again, and her mouth twisted in a grin.

“You're damn right you do. I make  _ really  _ good hot chocolate.”


	4. The Way You Said I Love You: On a Post-It Note - Nate/Elena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From [this](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/post/150185436752/the-way-you-said-i-love-you) fic meme list, requested by forgefaerie, unchartedelissa, and onthestupidtrain. Thanks friends!

The sun’s not up yet when he shoves his key into the door of the office. It's cold still, with dew clinging to his jacket. The warmth of the coffee in his hand and the chill of the dawn air helps wake him up, and he's almost completely conscious by the time he manages to shoulder his way into the small building. 

He shuts off the security system with the six-digit code he wrote on the meat of his thumb to help him remember and flicks on the lights. The office is familiar from when Jameson interviewed him a few weeks ago, but it's only his third time actually  _ in _ the building, and it's the first time he's alone.

_ I'm running a bit late; one of my girls are sick,  _ Jameson had called to tell him.  _ Just let yourself in—you remember the code and how to shut off the alarm? Yeah, good. There's some paperwork I need filed that's on the desk, and other than that, sit tight and try to stay awake. I shouldn't be too long. _

Nate's not sure if he's flattered or frightened by the amount of trust Jameson’s putting in him, especially so soon. Not two week ago he was rhyming off some of the more colourful offences on his criminal record—theft being at the top of the list—to the man who for some reason decided to hire him in spite of that.  _ Honesty is the best policy _ and all that jazz, and it had served him well as Elena said it would, even if it made him brutally uncomfortable.

Either way, he’s spending his first minutes on the clock alone.

He sets his backpack and coffee cup down on the desk in front of him and sighs, looking around the office. It's small and modest and cluttered with equipment and reminder notes and big pin-up calendars filled with deadlines. It reminds him of Elena’s office in a way, minus the weird organisational system she has, and the smell of old paper is replaced with petrichor and cold river water. 

The files Jameson told him about were easy enough to sort and put away in the cabinet—with  _ lots _ of other files, a shitload of files, is this going to be a desk job?—and he finds himself with nothing to do very quickly. The small space of the office and the key pressing hard into the pocket at his thigh makes him feel like he's doing something wrong, like a criminal hanging around the scene of the crime. The combination of hardwired Catholic guilt and a long career of illegal employment makes it difficult to feel like he's  _ not  _ committing some infraction by standing alone in the office with a key to the front door before the sun’s even up. He sips at his coffee to distract himself and digs into his bag for his lunch.

Elena insisted on packing one for him—she’d been more excited about his first day than  _ he _ had. He grins at the memory of her poking around the kitchen last night, putting everything in small ziplock baggies before packing all his food in a paper bag. She’d reminded him a total of four times to pull it out of the fridge in the morning before leaving, and he’d replied with a kiss and a nod each time.

Nate unrolls the brown paper and peers inside. There's a container of the really good vegetable curry she makes whenever she's craving Indian food, a few pieces of naan, an apple and two tiny bite-sized donuts. 

He debates on whether or not to eat the donuts right now to kill time when he spots a small yellow sticky note on the plastic container at the bottom of the bag. He pulls it off and holds it up to the lighting to read it.

_ Good luck on your first day, cowboy. You’ll do great. _

_ \- E _

The words make him grin like a teenager, and he runs a thumb over her neat, curling handwriting. It's as unique as a fingerprint, and the paper even still has the faint smell of her on it. It does a lot to alleviate his criminal complex and warms him up better than any coffee ever could. The big, looping heart drawn just under the note to split his face with a smile, too.

The knob of the front door suddenly begins to turn, and he quickly slips the note into his pocket before Jameson steps inside. It feels too private to let anyone see it, like a note passed to him in class.

“Morning Nate, sorry about that—” Jameson slips past the door and gives him a smile, then nods in approval when he sees the clean desk. “You filed that stuff away already; good.”

He nodded. “How's your daughter?”

“Sick, but Karla said she'd take the day. Nothing serious,” he adds. “Just a cold, I think.” 

Nate makes a noise of sympathy. “That's good—good that it's not serious, I mean.” He frowns down at his bag. “Where should I—uh, put my stuff?”

“There's fine; everyone just leaves their shit wherever they want anyway,” Jameson says with a laugh. “Drink your coffee, then we can start.” He slings his jacket over a chair and raises a brow at Nate. “You ready to start your first day, Drake?”

Elena’s note is still a comfortable crinkle in his pocket, and he grins at his new—and first real—boss. “Yeah,” he says. “More than ever.”


	5. The Way You Said I Love You: A Whisper in the Ear - Nate & Cassie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate and Cassie spend a quiet morning by the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From [this](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/post/150185436752/the-way-you-said-i-love-you) fic meme list, requested by onthestupidtrain. This ended up as a hella depressing AU, oops.

She's so like her mother that it hurts to watch her sometimes.

They're sitting at the edge of the water, waiting for the sun come up and their day to fully start. His coffee is forgotten next to him—Cassie is all he sees.

She's digging around in the sand, forming wet chunks of it together in her small fists in favour of eating her crackers. The blobs of sand are piled beside her, and she manages to form a small mountain of them before she spots something shiny by her foot and tosses her handful of sand aside.

“Eh?” she asks, and holds it up to his nose for questioning. It's green and smooth and translucent, and he takes it from her to hold it up to the first rays of sunlight. 

“It's sea glass,” he tells her, and her eyes widen when she watches the light refract through it. Her hands reach up to grab at it and he gives it back to her. Cassie inspects it for a moment, brows scrunched, before slipping it into the small pocket of her shorts, the place where she stores all of her treasures. She continues to look for more, shoving her hands into the damp sand and giggling when it sticks to her skin.

He runs a hand through her blond hair, watching her play and explore and learn.  _ She's so much like you,  _ he whispers to himself, too quiet for even Cassie to hear. He finds that he talks to Elena a lot lately, especially when it's quiet like this.  _ God, she would have loved you. _

He watches her dig, plunging her fingers into the sand and giggling when the waves lap at her skin. It’d been a good decision to move, he decides. To get a fresh start, for both of them.

“Ah!” 

“What did you find?” he asks, blinking hard and coming out of his thoughts, and Cassie holds up her prize to him.

It's a small seashell, deeply grooved and no larger than his thumb. The inside of it is pearled, and shines all kinds of purples and blue and greens in the yellow morning light. 

“Seashell,” he says to her, and she frowns at it.

“See-see,” she repeats, nodding to herself. “See-see.” She pockets this find too, and then braces her hands on the ground, intending to stand up—she needed to get in her daily treasure hunting before they began their day.

“Where do you think you're going, huh?” He grabs a hold of her before she can walk away from him, and she bursts into giggles and squeals when he lies on his back and holds her up in the air above him. “Huh?”

She's grinning and laughing down at him, sand falling onto his shirt as she claps her hands in delight and makes contented baby noises. Her fingers wrap around his arms for support and her legs kick out behind her before he brings his knees up for her to rest on.

“We’re going to the store today once I'm done my coffee,” he tells her, and she stares down at him in wonder. “We’re going to buy groceries, and then we’re going to go see Sully. He's got a toy for you,” Nate adds, but the significance of that is still lost on her. She's just grinning down at him, her toothless smile gummy and curious. “And then we’re going to grab lunch with him. How does that sound?”

She babbles a response, looking serious in a one year-old kind of way, and he brings her down to rest her on his ribs. Cassie starts to pull at the buttons on his shirt almost immediately, murmuring to herself, while he wipes the sand off her face. She stares at him with her mother's deep brown eyes, and he can almost  _ feel  _ Elena lying next to him in the sand, watching their daughter. 

“She's so much like you, ‘lena,” he repeats aloud. There's no one around to hear him except for Cassie, but he's confident she’ll keep his secret. “I wish you could see her.” He touches his daughter’s cheek, wiping away a stray grain, and the ring on his finger shines in the dawn. “You're so smart already, Cass. Smart like your mom.”

She might not understand the words, but he knew she could sense the general gravity of the conversation, or at least his tone. She makes grabby hands at him and tries to lie down, and he brings her close to his chest. He presses his face into her blond hair, taking in that unique baby smell she had.

“She loves you, Cass,” he whispers to her, rocking gently. “She would've loved to meet you.”

Cassie is silent, but her fingers fist at the material of his shirt, and he holds her close as the sun fully rises over the ocean. It's quiet here, in front of their new home, but a peaceful quiet. It’s a peace that's theirs, one they're going to make together. One with no ghosts between them.

“I miss you, ‘lena,” he whispers into Cassie’s hair, who's pulling on the hem of his shirt and breathing softly. “Wish you could’ve been here.”


	6. Quickening - Nate/Elena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elena experiences one of the many joys of pregnancy - feeling her baby move for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A miscellaneous request sent to me by onthestupidtrain!

She braced her hands against the kitchen counter, waiting for it to happen again. 

She'd felt it—felt the baby move. She was certain. Elena pressed a delicate hand to her belly, her heart beating hard in her chest as she waited. It had been such an alien sensation—a fluttering, quick motion across her stomach so strange that at first she thought something was wrong with the baby.

It'd started to worry her, the lack of movement. She was twenty-four weeks along and hadn't felt a single thing. Thoughts of things going wrong with the pregnancy and the baby always occupied some part of her brain, and the massive flux of hormones wasn't helping her anxiety. She was in her thirties, and there was always a higher risk of complications for women in their thirties—

She gasped, feeling it again, and felt a shiver go down her spine. She rubbed her hand around the general area where she’d felt the movement, as if in greeting. “Hey,” she whispered, so quietly she barely heard herself. “Hey, there.” 

Thinking of the baby was always a weird thing; she had no clue what this small person inside her looked like— _ probably a weird fish thing still— _ but it was warm and distinct in her mind somehow, fuelled by sensation more than image, and the movement only sharpened her idea of the baby.

“‘lena? Everything okay?”

She turned and saw Nate come in from the backyard. There was rain smearing his hair and making it stick to his head, and his coat had hundreds of tiny little droplets clinging to it. She grinned and ushered him over.

“Yeah, come here. I felt—I felt the baby move.”

His eyes widened as he walked over to her. “Really?” 

His hand came up to touch her stomach, then hesitated. He looked up at her, as if asking permission. 

She nodded. “Go ahead.” He smiled and rested a gentle hand on her stomach. His fingers were cool from the rain and permeated through her shirt. She tapped a gentle hand against her belly. “Come on, baby. Move for your dad.”

They waited for a moment, the both of them holding their breath, before she felt that quick shiver deep in her stomach, and Nate let out a surprised laugh.

“It moved,” he murmured, looking up at her. “That was—That must feel weird.”

“Yeah. It caught me by sur—” The baby moved again, much more aggressively this time, and she let out a hard breath through her nose. “Whoa. Be careful of my organs, mister.”

“Mister? It's a boy?” 

There was an expression on Nate’s face she couldn't read, but he looked deeply excited by the idea. She patted his arm, not wanting to give him any conflicting information. “I don't really know, to be honest. I can't tell unless we ask the doctor to confirm it for us. But if the baby keeps doing somer– _ saults,”  _ she gasped, grabbing at her stomach as another big  _ whoosh  _ of sensation hit her. “Wow. As I was  _ saying,”  _ she continued, shooting an accusatory glance down at the now restless mass in her stomach. “If it keeps jumping around in there, I'm gonna say we’re having a mini-you. He’ll learn to climb before he can walk.”

He grinned and moved closer to her. “What a sight that would be. Super-baby.”

“Yeah,” she said with a snort. “More like nightmare kid who breaks all the baby-proof locks and climbs the bookcases. Serves me right for having a baby with  _ you.” _

“Ah, but they’ll have your brains, hopefully, and will know better than to climb all over the place.” He slid an arm around her and pulled her close, and she rested her head on his damp shoulder.

“Our kid will be unstoppable,” she whispered to him. She felt his chest vibrate with soft laughter, and then a kiss pressed into her hair.

“Yeah, they will.” 


	7. Grocery Shopping - Nate/Elena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate's not used to domestic responsibility, and it's going to his head a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A misc request for an anon!

“Nate,” she says, patiently, for the fourth time. “Please stop.”

“Stop what?” There are a few rogue crumbs dusting the side of his mouth, and she makes a point of looking at them. 

“Eating the food in the grocery cart.”

He waves her off and sets the cookie bag back in the cart. “We’re paying for it.”

“I'd rather not be  _ that  _ customer if we can help it.” She pulls out her phone and scrolls through the list of things they still needed. They're expecting Sully for dinner tomorrow, and their fridge is pitifully empty.  _ Chicken, eggs, cream, cheese, green onions— _

“What customer?”

She looks up. “You know, the kind that puts things back on the wrong shelf and comes in five minutes before close and—” Elena pauses, frowning. Right. Nate never had the pleasure of working customer service. “Just a general pain in the ass.”

“They're  _ our _ cookies—”

“Do you two need help with anything?”

She shoots a glare at Nate, who looks confused, before turning and smiling at the polite sales clerk who has suddenly appeared behind them. “We’re good, thanks.” Elena makes a point of getting in between Nate and their cart in the hopes that would assure the woman.

The clerk smiles brightly at them in response, and Elena winces. “No worries! Let me know if you need help finding something.” She lingers for a few moments, pretending to shift things around on a shelf, before wandering off when Nate doesn't grab at the food again.

When the woman's out of earshot, she turns back to her husband. “See? That's our cue. We’re making them anxious.  _ Stop _ eating the food.”

“What? She was just asking if we needed—”

“That's code for  _ I can see what you're doing,” _ she explains. “No more cookies.”

Nate pouts for a few minutes, occasionally shooting listful glances towards the Oreos, before discovering the International Foods aisle and continuously grabbing food staples that she calmly explains that they don't need and, more importantly, Nate doesn't know how to cook.

“I can learn,” he suggests. “Samosas are  _ really _ good, and they looks simple enough to—”

“We can try experimenting on a day when Sully isn't over. I don't want to poison him.” She just needs to get chicken and some dairy products. They’ll be out of the store soon if Nate can focus.

“Sully eats garbage all the time,” he argues, but puts the lentils back on the shelf. He wanders down the rows of foreign food items, and she thinks they might finally be clear of aisle six before Nate stops again and holds up another container. “Oh, Elena, look, look look—rice paper. See? I actually  _ know _ how to make spring rolls, and….”

Normally she gets her shopping done in thirty minutes. Nate stretches the trip out to a grand total of almost two hours, and by the time they're at the checkout, there's another row of Oreos missing from the package and they have at least seven items Elena knows will go stale and have to be thrown out in a few weeks.

But then Nate makes a competition out of who can bag the most items (he won, but only because he put things like tomatoes and canned beans in the same bag) and rides the grocery cart to the return shed through the parking lot, and she chalks the extra hour up to quality time spent with someone who’s never done anything properly domestic in his life.


	8. Autumn Ask Prompts: First Day of School - Nate, Elena & Cassie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From [this](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/post/152424257477/autumn-fic-meme%0A) prompt meme, for omgbarbiegurl, zae-lynn, and an anon on tumblr. Thanks guys!

Elena's not sure who's leaving whom here; Nate or Cassie.

The two are locked in a fierce embrace, with Nate's face pressing to his daughter's hair. "We'll be back to pick you up later today, baby," he keeps saying to her, whispering it like a mantra. The display isn't all that unusual; Elena can see and hear several other kid-parent combos dealing with the first day of school drop-offs in similar ways.

Cassie's response is to cling more tightly to her father's jacket, and Elena allows them one extra moment of contact before she steps in. She suspects her daughter's reluctance at being left at school has less to do with the fact that it's a new place and more to do with Nate not handling the transition well.

Elena settles a hand on Nate's shoulder and crouches down to look Cassie in the eyes. "Come on, munchkin, time to go. Your class is lining up, see?" Her daughter follows the line of Elena's finger to see several cranky four year-olds standing against the wall next to the classroom door, all being calmed by the teacher.

"Are you coming with me?" Cassie asks, looking back to her father for an answer. Elena sees his face twist in something like anguish, and cuts in before another round of hugging and crying can ensue.

"No honey; we'll be back later," she says calmly, and continues on before Cassie's pout can get any bigger. "You have to go with your teacher and classmates now. You can play games and make friends, and do all kinds of fun things…."

Cassie eventually submits to the logic of leaving the protective circle of her dad's arms once Elena tells her that she'll be going on an adventure. Which isn't a lie; judging by all the interactive play stations in the classroom, Cassie would have her hands full of things to do and other little people to interact with all day long.

When their daughter lines up with her class, she's easily distracted by the bow in the girl's hair standing in front of her. She waves an absent-minded goodbye to her parents when they say their final goodbyes, now enthralled with the stimuli of public school.

Nate's quiet while Elena thanks the teacher, and stays silent on their way to the car.

"I'm glad the press doesn't find this overly interesting," Elena comments, more for the sake of filling the silence than actual conversation. She opens the driver door of their car and ducks inside. "Hopefully they'll continue not to care about Cassie being in public school. We might actually be able to keep her here for a while."

Nate nods but doesn't say anything, instead fiddling with his seatbelt. She lays a hand on his arm, and he flinches, looking up at her.

She gives him a reassuring smile. "She'll be okay. She was already making a friend before we even left."

His jaw clenches and unclenches. "She didn't believe me at first," he says quietly, staring off in the distance at something she couldn't see. "When I told her we'd be back."

"No, she just didn't want to leave her dad when he was so clearly upset," Elena corrects him. "She trusts us, Nate."

He shrugs his shoulders, not meeting her eyes, and then she finally realises what this is about.

"It's not an orphanage," she whispers, and his eyes snap to her. "We're coming back for her. We always will."

He swallows hard and blinks, trying not to disturb the moisture collecting in his eyes. "Yeah," he rasps. She grabs for his hand, and he squeezes her fingers hard. "Yeah, always."


	9. Autumn Ask Prompts: Homecoming - Nate & Sully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From [this](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/post/152424257477/autumn-fic-meme) prompt meme, requested by zae-lynn.

"Do you even know where the high school is?"

"'Course," Nate replied with an offended huff, head and shoulders still buried in the duffle bag of his clothes. "Been there a couple times. And the dance is at some venue, anyway. I'm just meeting her there."

Sully frowned. "And this girl—"

"Laxmi," Nate muffled.

"Right. What's she know?"

Nate's shaggy head appeared from his bag, and he cast a wary glance at Sully. "What do you mean?"

"Well does she know you don't go to school, for starters?" Sully asked. "Or that you just finished a stint in juvie for that dumbass robbery your brother tried to pull off?"

Nate shrugged. "She asked about school and I said you homeschool me. And she doesn't need to know about Sam. He's not out for a few more weeks anyway."

"How long you planning on keeping this up, kid? We're going to Belarus in three weeks—"

"I know." Nate finally found a horribly crumpled dress shirt and held it up to his bedroom's light. "Probably should wash this," he muttered. "And to answer your question, Laxmi just invited me to her school dance. We're not getting married or anything."

Sully decided not to press the issue. "Well in that case—d'you need condoms?"

At that, Nate's face went red, his eyes firmly fixed on his bedpost. Even at seventeen, he hadn't shaken off the damage stern nuns and catholic guilt had inflicted on his psyche. He'll grow out of it eventually. Hopefully. "No, I don't—I dunno," Nate stammered, still not looking at Sully. "Maybe. We haven't really—I mean, she's not—"

"Alright, so PG thirteen," Sully interrupted him. "Well, just keep your drink covered and don't get high. Think you can get home by yourself?"

"Yeah," Nate huffed, looking the part of annoyed teenager. "It's just a dance, Sully. And teachers are there and stuff, right? It's not like there's gonna be drugs everywhere."

"Well, you're the high school expert," he conceded, which earned him another glare. "I'm out for a few hours, so the house'll be empty for tonight. I left some extra condoms in the bathroom if your dance goes really well."

Nate's answering glare prompted Sully to vacate his room. He'd let the kid have a few normal nights before their next job. Career outlaw gigs generally weren't all that great for fostering teenage love, so if Nate wanted to indulge in a crush for a few weeks, Sully was glad to help him in any way he could.

"Ironing board's in the kitchen," he said to Nate through his door. "Let me know if you need help with it."

A muffled "'kay" came from his room; Nate was on the hunt for dress pants now. Sully left him to his own devices, and waited around the house just long enough to make sure the kid didn't set his clothes on fire with the iron.


	10. Autumn Ask Prompts: Scary Movies - Nate/Elena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From [this](https://el-goddamn-dorado.tumblr.com/post/152424257477/autumn-fic-meme) prompt meme, for beltsquid.

Pillows and blankets Elena didn't know they had somehow had all amassed on Nate's side of the couch. She could barely see her husband, except for a small break in his defenses near his face that allowed him to watch the movie.

Freddy Kruger was in the middle of attacking poor Nancy again. Elena had seen all the movies so many times she could reenact them in her sleep, but Nate wasn't so fortunate. She paused the movie to turn to him, and heard a sigh of relief from the lump of blankets.

"We can watch something else," Elena suggested, poking at what she thought was his shoulder. "Friday the Thirteenth isn't all that scary. We could even watch the really dumb one where Jason goes to space."

Two blue eyes glanced at her from under the blankets. "But you wanted to watch this," he muffled.

"Because I wanted to marathon all the classics with you," she said, snuggling up as close to him as the pillows would allow. "I didn't know they'd freak you out this much."

His head popped out from under a blanket, his hair sticking up from significant static cling. "I'm not that scared," he postured, frowning down at her. "We've seen actual zombies, remember? I can handle Freddy."

She bit her lip and grinned. "Suit yourself. Can you at least let me in your nest of blankets while we watch, then?"

He opened one arm to invite her in, looking like a bat with the blanket hanging off of him. She eagerly snuggled into his side, humming in contentment at how warm he was. It was unusually cold today, making it the perfect time to huddle together and watch old scary movies.

Once Nate had re-secured their fort and settled them comfortably on his side of the couch, Elena unpaused the movie. Nate held onto his male bravado for about five minutes, until Freddy started pressing through the wall of Nancy's bedroom, and then his face took up residence in the crook of her neck for protection. She threaded her fingers through his hair, grinning, and shielded her poor husband from the terrors of Freddy Krueger.

If this was all it took to get in some hardcore cuddling, they were gonna be watching a lot of scary movies in the near future.


End file.
